Toads In Trees And Stones

A lai'ge toad wís fonml a few year apro in an oíd npple tree at W'onham Manoy; it carne lo light when the tree was Wown down. The Memoirs of t lie F rettch Academie detSciencei con tai n a, dcscvipüon of a live toad found i" tlic hoart of an oíd elm tree. Neur Nantos, when an oíd onk waa cleft opon, a toad was found in the ho.in wood, althougli no orerice or other chaiinol of eutrawce con'.d be detentad; tliero were alout nincty rings in the triink of the oak, leading' to tlm inferanoe (aocordinj to one theory) that the animal must have been in lts prison home ninely yeai's. Mr. Jesse, in referenee to a f'rog in a muir berry ti'ee, expressed a belief th:U tho animal rings had boen gradaally bu t su rei y enclosíiig the veptilo. Toada in clay have been. more iVequently met wïth than in trees ; sometimos a whole fomily have tlms been ferroted out at once." In 1856 a toad was found at a considerable depth at Beiithall, noar Bi-osely, Bhropshii. Mr. Batliurst, eai'thenwarc mauafoctararat Beiithall, asoertained that the ereature was et witli about six feet frota the sirface, in a layer of tougii clay, eustomarily ued tbr coarse brown ware. Above this layer, in succèssive strata, we re ferruginous coal of poor quaüty, clay. a loam of clay and grave!, and incadow turf at the top. The toad was lilling a cavity as wax does a seal. A minuto examination of tho superincnmbent strata iUilcd to detect any fissure through wbich tlie animal con UI liave enterad. ïlio light of day seomed to distress it, but this it soon became acenstomed to; the eyos wc re bril Mant, the skin moist, tlio mouth quite